Crafting the Perfect Title: Best Practices for College Papers

The title of a college paper is the first and often most read part of your work. It's your initial opportunity to capture the reader's attention and convey the essence of your research. Therefore, choosing a strong title is crucial. This article delves into the best practices for titling a college paper, drawing on expert advice and practical examples.

Informative vs. Creative Titles

There are generally two approaches to creating titles: informative and creative. Academic papers typically lean towards informative titles, although some disciplines allow for more creative approaches. Strong titles for academic papers use the fewest possible words to describe the contents and/or purpose of your research paper.

The Importance of a Well-Crafted Title

The title is arguably the most important part of a research paper, as it's often the only part that many readers will engage with. A well-crafted title should be descriptive, direct, accurate, appropriate, interesting, concise, precise, and unique, while avoiding being misleading.

When to Title Your Paper

Don't wait until you are done writing your paper to come up with a title. Typically, the final title you submit to your instructor is created after the research is complete so that the title accurately captures what has been achieved. The working title should be developed early in the research process because it can help anchor the focus of the study in much the same way the research problem does. This working title can guide your research and keep you focused on your core argument.

Essential Elements of a Strong Title

A good title should be informative, argumentative, and intriguing. Avoid generic terms ('assessing', 'evaluating', 'measuring'), overly complex phrasing ('revealing the complexity of'), and broad interdisciplinary terms ('an interdisciplinary perspective').

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Grammar and Capitalization

Use correct grammar and capitalization with all first words and last words capitalized, including the first word of a subtitle. In academic papers, rarely is a title followed by an exclamation mark.

The Power of Subtitles

Subtitles are quite common in social science research papers. Subtitles are frequently used in social and behavioral sciences research papers because it helps the reader understand the scope of the study in relation to how it was designed to address the research problem. Often, the main title describes the problem and the subtitle clarifies the context, highlights the method of analysis, or identifies the research setting.

Subtitles can serve multiple purposes:

Adds substance to a literary, provocative, or imaginative title or quote: For example, "Listen to What I Say, Not How I Vote": Congressional Support for the President in Washington and at Home."
Qualifies the geographic scope of the research: For example, "The Geopolitics of the Eastern Border of the European Union: The Case of Romania-Moldova-Ukraine."
Qualifies the temporal scope of the research: For example, "A Comparison of the Progressive Era and the Depression Years: Societal Influences on Predictions of the Future of the Library, 1895-1940."
Focuses on investigating the ideas, theories, or work of a particular individual: For example, "A Deliberative Conception of Politics: How Francesco Saverio Merlino Related Anarchy and Democracy."
Identifies the methodology used: For example, "Student Activism of the 1960s Revisited: A Multivariate Analysis Research Note."
Defines the overarching theoretical framework for analyzing the research problem: For example, "Explaining Territorial Change in Federal Democracies: A Comparative Historical Institutionalist Approach."

Examples of Effective Titles

Short and Provocative: "Why nations fail". This is followed by ‘The origins of power, prosperity and poverty´.
Intriguing Argument: Garett Hardin’s four-worded ‘tragedy of the commons’. It is short and provocative.
Clear and Concise: ‘Limits to growth’. It can´t get better than that.

Titles to Avoid

Too Long: If the title is too long it usually contains too many unnecessary words, e.g., "A Study to Investigate the…."
Too Short: On the other hand, a title which is too short often uses words which are too general.
Boring and Uninformative: A title that does not inform the reader about the purpose of the research or the argument.
Redundant: Using descriptive, redundant terms like ‘measures’ and ‘implications’.

Wit and Humor in Titles

Don’t try too hard to be witty. Journal articles are not the place to be funny - titles even less so. As I wrote, if you have to try hard to be witty, then don’t. Use wit with caution and only if you are 100% sure that you can pull it off.

A Stepwise Approach to Titling

Baptise it! You know what your article is going to be about. It's time to baptise it! with a three step process to help you create better titles.

Abstract and Keywords

It is very important to include the most important words and terms (the “keywords”) in the title and the abstract for appropriate indexing purpose and for retrieval from the search engines and scientific databases. Such keywords should be listed after the abstract. The abstract is a summary or synopsis of the full research paper and also needs to have similar characteristics like the title. The abstracts can be structured or unstructured. Structured abstracts are followed by most journals, are more informative, and include specific subheadings/subsections under which the abstract needs to be composed.

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